Skip to Content

BioBotz: Bringing Molecular Biology to Life
ImageTaking their interests in biology and combining them with an interest in entrepreneurship, six science-minded individuals created a startup company named BioBotz. Led by Michael Metzmaker and Sara Branson, the students took what they learned in their First-Year Seminar in the spring of 2007, and turned it into an educational entertainment venture.

“We want to take the complexities of the inside of the cell, and make it fun for kids to learn,” says Metzmaker. “We know that making science fun is no easy task. But we also know that we can do it.”

Now, the six students are working with their First-Year Seminar professor, Jed C. Macosko, on an independent study project while they work on starting the company. The group has already received the New Venture Seed Grant from the University Center for Entrepreneurship this past spring in the amount of $1,000, and received another $1,000 donation from an independent supporter. Their main goal right now is to submit a convincing grant proposal to the MacArthur Foundation, in an attempt to find funding to get the company through the startup process and operational.

The group meets several times a week, on their own, and once a week with Professor Macosko. “They’re trying to create the Pokemon of molecular biology,” Macosko says.

The students plan to create a picture book, an animated television series, and a video game, in order to get kids excited about the inside of the cell. They hired another seed grant recipient, Bill Brown, to draw a few character sketches for them over the summer, which they will use in various aspects of the project, as well as to amplify their grant proposals and business plan.

“Every kid goes through a stage where they know all about dinosaurs, or spaceships, or, more recently, Pokemon. Why not things inside the cell?” asks Sara.

Image It is interesting that a group of six science majors, four of whom are pre-medicine, would combine their knowledge with a field totally outside anything they have ever done before. Along with Michael, a pre-medicine biology major, and Sara, also pre-medicine and a biochemistry major, the group includes Ashley Edwards, Michael Epstein, Elizabeth Newman, and Jane Lee. Each of them works on particular aspects of the project, from finance to creativity to market research, and they all cooperate on many different activities.

“Everyone has their part. The team is just that, a team. Without any one of us, this project would never have made it as far as it has,” says Epstein.

When asked what their favorite part of the project is, each of the students agrees that coming up with a storyline for the picture book is the most fun.

“We storyboarded for several hours at the end of the spring semester, and have a very exciting story involving our main characters, kinesin, myosin, and dynein, saving the cell from an invading virus,” explains Metzmaker. “You’ll just have to read it to find out how.”

While this project may seem to have lofty goals, it also has great potential. BioBotz will take the youth of the United States by storm, and they will be left smarter and more science-minded as a result.

Written by: Mike Metzmaker, BioBotz, Inc.

Join our Mailing List

Enter your email address here to join our mailing list: